Movin' On Up

Well Hello Friends and Family!

We are now Marina Queens. (Folks we met over the years who were too cheap to tie up at a dock always spoke disparagingly about "Marina Queens." 

At the dock!

In order to get the broker on the boat, get some repair work done and to show the boat to prospective lucky new owners, we have to be on the dock. So we don't get dolphin visits now that we've moved.

Now that wasn't supposed to be easy. No dock spots to be had. But, we had a stroke of luck as I happened to check by the office and they had a sudden, unexpected vacancy! So here we are... looking down our noses at those poor slobs out in the mooring field. 

Now, when we get the urge to have a shower, go for a walk, or check the treasures on the "free table," we just swing our legs over the side, jump onto the dock and walk leisurely down to the marina complex. It's a nice place. If it wasn't so damn cold and rainy it would be a nice place to hang out for a while.

By the dinghy dock, in front of the marina complex

Where we used to park on our visits in from the mooring field

We have arranged to have a rigging guy to come and sort out a problem with the reefing system. But not for a couple of weeks from now. Also, a fibreglass guy to repair some minor damage caused on our delivery up from Antigua. Install a new autopilot (who we will still call Otto, of course) and finally a small repair to the mainsail. 

So we sit and wait. These guys are busy and we are trying our best to be patient. And we clean, declutter, do small bits of varnish. Also Wordle, crosswords, solitaire and sudukos. There are some nice walks around when the weather suits.

Looking aft

The main salon

The galley - where Pam creates genius meals!

In the meantime, we are in the process of getting Blue Pearl listed for sale (sob.) Everyone who walks by heaps praise on the condition. 

"Nice boat!"

"Beautiful boat!"

"Love Island Packets. This one looks awesome!"

So we are hoping someone will fall in love... as we did. And that will be that. I envy them.

We are missing our family and friends and really looking forward to getting home. Expect that will happen before the end of February.

Cheers for now!

Capt. Chaos

Need a Holiday

Hello Friends and Family,

I feel negligent that we haven’t posted more regularly but we are really living our most boring life right now with very spotty internet. 

We’ve made the decision to sell the boat and so there are so many things to put in place.

It’s not like a used car lot. We’ve got to find a place to moor or haul so the broker can show interested parties. Also, there are a couple of boat issues that need to be remedied before we are good to pass it on to new owners. Finding the parts and services is challenging and time consuming.

The weather hasn’t been wonderful. We had 3 weeks of cold, moist and cloudy days and then last week was nice. That gave us a chance to do a service coat of varnish all around. We will continue with that while we wait for our final fixes. But it is forecast to rain for the next 3 days so we are busy doing crossword puzzles and reading. We need a holiday from our holiday!

Too wet to add another coat of varnish

Clearing out 15 years of accumulated junk has been educational. Many treasures have gone on to local marina “free tables.” Stuff that has value, stuff that we thought we might need, but now just clutter that needs to go. Our “treasures” seem to be well received. We put them on the free-table and later see folks walking out with our junk and a smile! 

The boat has never looked better. The shelves are clean and empty and the cabin looks like a promotional sales brochure.

Island Packet 38 for sale!

Escape to the tropics!

Eat street pizza in Stuart

Looking forward to catching up back at home when this phase is done!

Cheers for now.

Down the St. Lucie to Stuart

Hello Again!

Travelling down the St. Lucie is always fun... more fun when the autohelm is installed and working... but fun even when you have to steer. Lots to look at and cool to see how it changes from rural to urban, from $ to $$$$.

Captain Chaos at the helm

Country living along the St. Luci

Home with a skiff

Watching for alligators

One of many interesting marine machines

One of many, many bridges. Taller than our mast!

Coming up on the lock

.

Dropping 13 feet.

Modest patio with mosquito netting.

Nice little trailer part.

Poor Murphy. We mentioned that he is showing his age. One patch is working fine. The other didn't last and I tried it again today we'll see how that goes.

In the meantime we are having conversations with yacht brokers and cleaning up; throwing away all the junk we've accumulated over the past 15 years. It is looking better with every trip, carting treasures of the bilge from Blue Pearl to the free table at the marina. I'm harbouring a fantasy that we'll get it looking so great that we'll decide to keep it for another 15 years.

Take care!

Winter in Florida

Hello Friends and Family,

We hauled Blue Pearl here at Indiantown Marina in Florida last April after a legendary transit from Antigua. Just arrived back here on Monday, January 8 after a nasty journey from Abbotsford. A long time for a boat to sit in the elements. 

Our plan is to escape the gnarly January/February weather at home and enjoy the brilliant, warm Florida weather. Hah! I shouldn't complain since temperatures at home have broken the bottom out of thermometer bulbs. But it's not that nice here either. It's cold. And it's rainy. When we wake up in the morning we are cold and damp. Sometimes it gets a little warm, but not often. That's going to change, right?

Glorious sunny Florida day

We have some cleanup and a couple of glitchy things to fix after last year's 1400 mile trip so we've been sitting alongside in the Marina putting up canvas, clearing up and waiting for parts and service. Local tasks include new topping lift shackle, jib halyard snarl, reefing line snarl and auto helm repair. We had dropped off our autohelm unit to have some minor repair work done last April. Last week the mechanic dropped it off and said he couldn't fix it. Nine months to discover that! So there's that.

Stripped threads. Should be a simple fix, right?

A young guy came in as crew on a boat on Sunday. Chatted about fixing boats. Conversation moved to climbing masts and presto... our topping lift shackle and jib halyard snarl were fixed. In exchange, we gave him a lift into Stuart to rendezvous with his rental car. I'm waiting for all the other problems to disappear as easily.

Murphy the dinghy is showing his age. One inflatable chamber is flat as a pancake. I've done 2 patching sessions. Will check result in the morning. Hoping to get at least one more season out of old Murph'.

Good Old Murphy

Hoping to leave in a couple of days to secure a mooring ball in Stuart at the Sunset Bay Marina. Maybe a month? Our plan is to enjoy some respite from the winter weather at home and do some maintenance on the teak. Maybe tidy the old girl up (speaking of Blue Pearl, of course) for a possible sale!!!

We'll see.

Hope you are all well!

Thanks for following along.